1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a downpipe filter for a building gutter system.
2. Background of the Invention
The downpipe filter known from DE 42 37 201 C2 and from the catalogue R26, edition 2006, “Rainwater Usage System”, pages 37, 42 and 43, of the company Otto Graf GmbH, Kunststofferzeugnisse, D 79331 Tenningen, is mounted with the housing between the circular downpipe ends in the downpipe. Thanks to the roundness of the ends of the downpipe the downpipe filter can be brought into any desired rotary position in relation to the downpipe or a building wall such that an overflow connection can be formed by a straight rigid tube or a rigid hose. The collecting trough including the sieve insert can be positioned arbitrarily as a sub-unit in order to vary the gain of branched-off rainwater or to completely inhibit a gain (e.g. during wintertime). Since the housing is coaxial to the axis of the downpipe and is wider than the downpipe, relatively large mounting space is needed behind the downpipe and in the direction to an adjacent building wall.
The downpipe filter known from U.S. Pat. No. 1,283,278 A is mounted at a circular downpipe end. The box-shaped housing has a central dirt port at the lower side and two sidewardly oriented water outlets. In order to guide the rainwater branched-off from the downpipe to one or to the other or to both outlets an elbow tube provided in the interior of the housing can be rotated back and forth about the axis of the downpipe. The axis of the downpipe is provided eccentrically within the housing. The housing is installed with the broader side parallel to the building wall.
The downpipe filter known from GB 239 1182 A fits to a circular downpipe cross-section and comprises a round housing which is eccentric with respect to the axis of the downpipe.
The device for branching-off rainwater from a downpipe as known from FR 2675171 A fits to a round downpipe cross-section and comprises a rectangular housing.
The rainwater collector known from DE 102 23 820 A fits between round downpipe ends and comprises a round housing having a double wall structure.
For architectonic or other reasons quadrangular, i.e. square or rectangular downpipes are provided extensively. Conventional downpipe filters cannot be combined with rectangular downpipes. Even if the housings of both above-mentioned known downpipe filters were to be modified to be mounted at rectangular downpipes only one predetermined position of the outlet for branched-off rainwater exists because the housing could not be rotated due to the rectangular cross-section of the downpipe. This would mean that a rainwater barrel has to be placed either directly in front of the downpipe filter and distant from the building wall, causing, in some cases, an unpleasant appearance, or that in case of a rainwater barrel placed sidewardly from the downpipe as close as possible to the building wall a strongly bent overflow connection would be needed which consumes much installation space and would result in disadvantageous flow conditions and a tendency to collect dirt.
In other application cases, it might become necessary to remove and withhold mainly foliage from the rainwater in the downpipe, e.g. because rainwater is guided into a percolation system. A foliage remover for a circular downpipe is known from the mentioned catalogue R26, page 43.